Third-rail guard



15m-"17, 1929. J. HoLzEL 1,739,591

THIRD RAIL GUARD Filed June 20. 1927` @@w 99 W, @Kw 119% Patented Dec. 1'I7, 1929 JonAirivnsey nnzmij, or MUNIICH, GERMANY; AssIeNoRn To= AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT BVOWNUBOVERI 62" CIE, OF"` BADENL- SWITZERLAND, A- JOINT-STOCK COMPANY 0F.y

SWJITZERL'AND THIRDl'RAIIi GUARD'y Application: ledfilimev 20,1927; Serial/.1%. 206,159, andin.G-ermanyflune 23, 192`6` 1 This invention relatesto :third rail guards and'lia's',,among its objects the provisionA of a'm'oldedguardoffimprovedjconstruction'for protecting@ ari d' mounting the thirdrails of electric railways bymeansofgwhicli currentfis supplied; to -tlie electric motor. drivesr of? the vcars and trainsY operated on@ such-railways The invention will be bestunderstood f rom thefollowingsdescriptionsf'of exempliiic'ations thereof, reference beingy had to the accompanying drawings wherein FiO. l shows a sectional view through a thirc rail with the associated guard, and the mounting member thereof,

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the rail structure along lines II-II in Fig. l,

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal, vertical sectional l y structure along line III-III in Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 of a modiication of the invention and Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of a still other modification of the invention.

The mounting of the third rail in electrically operated railways is a serious problem meeting many practical diiculties. In the first difliculty being that the rail must be disposed close to the ground near to the main rails. In the second diliiculty being that the third rail must be insulated for relatively high voltage with respect to the nearby main rails and other portions of the supporting structure. The insulation must be able to operate satisfactorily under very unfavorable conditions, namely, exposure to the influences of the weather, such as rain, snow, etc., and the accumulation. of metallic dust produced incident to the frequent braking of the trains or vehicles.

According to my invention. I provide a simple third rail structure fulfilling all of the foregoing conditions, and which is extremely simple and economical in manufacture and greatly facilitates the mounting of the rails and upkeep thereof in operative condition. This is effected by making the construction in the form of an under contact rail with a trough-shaped cover made of a molded mass of wood pulp, the supporting brackets of the structure engaging said cover at suitable in tervals to hold the railin proper relationship witl'rrespect to the m'ainrailsf. .By making holding the Arails may be' readily pro/vided,

during the molding or.. casting zprocess, .for instance, guide ribsfor supportingjthe brackets orfbearingblocks, which maybe located along the raill guard-i at suitable intervals. The bea .1 jing'..blocks.may` also. be directly` molded with the guards.

the preferred'` constructionggthei rail insulatingguardfis directly moldedonithe rail, and. constitutes therewith a unitary'structnre, thereby greatly simplifying` the 4construct-ion of the rail structure. rllhe direct molding; also improves the. degree of insulationl that may be secured, since the absence of.V crevices eliminates the-V accumulation'. of moisture, dust. or other elements that. impair theinsulation; Referring' to tliedrawings, a ra-ilfstructure for an electric railway comprises a contact or third rail l arranged to haveits lower side 2 exposed throughout its length so that ain electricvehiclev passingV along said-railv may establish free contact with` the under surface for providingl a flou71 of current between said third rail and 'the vehicle. The third rail' 1' is suitablyv supported adjacent tothe main rails as by ,means of bracketsev disposed at intervals along the rails, ath'irdi'ailcover or guard 5 serving asaprotectionv wel-l as ang insulator for said rail. According tothe inven' tion-,a cheap, economical andY highly efficient guard and insulating structureisgobtainedl by makingthe guard 5f from: amolded or cast .ma-ss ofwoodv pulp; Foninstancm suitably ground wood pulp, after being prepared', as

- by drying, isi mixedwith al suitable; binder,

such as' linseedi oil,v andi the nias's* so obtained molded in the shape of troughs of a desired length. The troughs so obtained are hardened as'by heating the molded body within the mold. The resulting guard is relatively light and weather-proof. It is also much cheaper than the similar guards ymade of lumber, since it secures guard troughs having high insulating qualities from relatively cheap and readily available types of'wood.

Thus, for instance, in order to build a trough of similar insulating characteristics out of lumber, high quality hardwood, specially impregnated, would have to be used, at an eX- y rate bearing blocks.

vdirectly on the rail.

pense which would be many times greater than the cost of molded structures. In addition, them'olding permits ready shaping of the trough to conform to the shape of the rail, and eliminates crevices suoli as would naturally have to be present at the jointsybetween the lumber members constituting such trough shaped guards. l I

The utilization of molded guard structures makes it also possibleto simplify the mounting of the rail" within the trough-shaped guard. To this end suitable ribs or projections 6 are molded at Aintervals in theV inner side of the trough, andthe rail is mounted in place byslipping the rail into the hollow lportion of the trough with wooden side blocks 7 and bearing blocks 8 inserted between the rail and the ribs. The ribs 6 prevent longitudinal movement of the side blocks 7 and- .of the bearing blocks 8. Wood screws v9 eX- tending through the sides of the trough into the side blocks 7 serve to secure t-he ytrough with respect to the rail. In the modification shown in Fig. 1 the bearing block 8 is omitted, and the guard has a suitably molded projection 11 which takes the In the preferred arrangement lshown in Fig. 5, the rail cover l2 and the rail 1 constitute a unitary body, the cover being molded To this end, the mass of wood pulp with the binder added thereto,

the rail l which is to be imbedded in the Km'ass, and the molding mass shaped and hardened over the rail. A simple, highly inbodying in the mass any one of thefmaterials known in the art for such purpose.

I claim:

l. A cont-act rail for electric railways, comprising a railhaving exposed Contact portion anda mass of wood pulp molded Vover the unexposed portions of said rail.

2. A cover for an under-contactrailfor electric railways comprising a trough of fibrous material moldedon the rail, said trough having means for preventing moveplace of the sepavis inserted into amold with the portion of sulating and relatively cheap structure is thus obtained, which 'greatly facilitates the construction and mounting of third rails, I

while securing the utmost in protection.

The invention is susceptible of many modifications, and is not limited to the precise details of construction and processes described above. For instance, instead of linseed 011, another suitable binder may be combined with the wood mass-for instance, a

suitable vegetable drying oil suchv as tung oil, or another cementitious or gluing mate- The molding mass mayv also be impregnated with suitable materials for increasing the insulating qualities or for reducing the `inammability thereof, by em- 

